


On Second Thought...

by Bisexualtrashlord



Category: Tangled (2010)
Genre: Bonding, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Near Death Experiences, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-03
Updated: 2013-08-03
Packaged: 2017-12-22 07:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/910698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bisexualtrashlord/pseuds/Bisexualtrashlord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A near death experience and a campfire can really change how someone sees a person, can't it?</p>
<p>Eugene's point of view, in the movie 'verse and contains dialogue from the campfire scene.</p>
<p>I own nothing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Second Thought...

**Author's Note:**

> I'm taking the fanfiction from FF.net to here on AO3. I'm going to try and get back into the fanfic swing of things, it might be hard since I'm starting college in about two weeks, so anything that I manage to get out will probably all be one chapter, maybe a little more if I have time. Plus I've joined more fandoms since I wrote this, so there's the possibility of new content.

Whew, we got away from everyone who is trying to kill me, that's the upside. The downside is that we're trapped by a rock slide, it's dark, it's cold and there's water coming in. A lot of water. We're gonna drown.

Water is coming up fast, Blondie and I had to get to higher ground, which wasn't much, considering we were trapped. I had to find a way out, and fast. I dove into the freezing water, hoping to see some type of opening. Nothing. I come back up for air so I could look longer. Even while I was under water, I could hear the clang clanging of Blondie's frying pan hitting the rocks, she was trying to help. As nice a gesture as it was, I knew that simply hitting the rocks wouldn't do much of anything. After the second time I came back up, I lost it, hitting myself against the rocks, I tried to move them with my hands, only to have my hand slip on them, giving me a huge, stinging cut along my hand. Damn.  
One more try to find an opening, still nothing. It was useless.

"It's no use. I can't see anything." I said, wiping the water from my face. I saw Blondie become panicked next to me, diving into the water herself as a result. What is she doing? She's lived up in a tower for 18 years, surely she doesn't know how to swim!  
"Hey, there's no point; it's pitch black down there." I say, trying to sound as calm as possible, not to make her anymore panicked, brushing some wet blonde hair out of her face. The look in her big green eyes almost breaks my heart, she sighs in defeat, leaning against the rock behind us.  
"This is all my fault." I hear her whisper next to me; I want to tell her that it isn't her fault, it's mine. If I hadn't been so stupid leading her into the pub, none of this would have happened; we wouldn't be slowly drowning.

"She was right I never should have done this." I hear her say; the 'she' must her mother she doesn't want to tell me about. Oh no, I heard a sniffle, please, please don't start crying.  
"I'm so…I'm so sorry Flynn." She says tearfully, and then she bursts into tears. Oh man, she's really broken over this, and it's all because of me, me and my stupid selfishness. At this point I don't even care about the crown, I just wanna live! But I guess that's not gonna happen. I have to do something, something to cheer her up. Oh well, it's now or never.  
"Eugene." Even though I haven't been called that for years, I still hate the sound of it.  
I hear Blondie sniffle next to me, "What?" She asks, I can't help but chuckle a little.

"My real name is Eugene Fitzherbert. Someone might as well know." I say to her. Blondie chuckles a little, making me smile a bit.

"I have magic hair that glows when I sing." She says quietly.

…Huh?

"What?" I ask, did she just say what I think she said? Oh no, she better explain it now before she can't speak anymore, the water is up to our necks!  
"I have…magic hair that glows when I sing!" She said cheerfully, hurry up, Blondie, and explain!  
"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine…" I hear her sing quickly, before we're both submerged under water. Just then I sing a bright stream of what looks like gold flood the water, making everything brighten. And it's coming from her hair. Oh god!

I follow the stream of light to a little pile of rocks; there was a current to it. We swim down towards it, and I begin to move the rocks. I'm running out of air, and I think Blondie is too. After I move the last rock, I feel a breeze. Air! We move the rocks and we're tossed out into a rushing river.  
Before Blondie can get caught by the river, I grab her hand and pull her to towards the other side. We're gonna live.

"We made it." Blondie said to her little frog, chameleon, whatever. I'm happy that we're alive, but there's that little matter.  
"Her hair glows." I say out loud.  
"I'm alive, I'm alive!"  
"I didn't see that coming."  
"Eugene…" she says, trying to snap me out of it.  
"The hair actually glows." I say to her little reptile.  
"Eugene." She says again  
"Why does her hair glow?"  
"Eugene!"  
"What?"  
Rapunzel smiles a little, "It doesn't just glow…"

I really don't like the way she said that.  
Getting over my shock for a moment, I realized that we had to set up camp, albeit small. Blondie was wringing her hair of the water before she looked at me.  
"What is it?"  
"Come on, let's find a place to set up camp." I say, offering my hand; she tries to walk over and grab it but she stumbles a bit.  
"You alright there?"  
"Y-yeah, that whole near death experience took a lot out of me. I'll be alright." She tried to reassure me, if she was going to trip the whole time we were walking, we wouldn't get anywhere until dark. I turned my back to her and bent down a little.  
"Hop on."  
"What?"  
"You've never gotten a piggy back ride before?" she shook her head silently.  
"Well you don't know what you're missing, hop on my back." I said; Blondie smiled a little and hopped on. Wow, she's really light.

 

Finding a camp site didn't take long at all, in fact it only took about twenty minutes, which was good considering it was almost dark. Blondie and I found a little clearing with a log to sit on, and I made a small fire. After both of us were nice and warm, I joined her on the log.  
"I think that should do it for now. This should last us until we go to sleep. Ouch." I winced when a felt the stinging again, I had forgotten about the cut I got in the rock slide. Blondie gasped and looked at the hand.

"Can I…?" she asked, I held the hand out to her and she gently took it in her small hand. I had never noticed how soft her hand was in mine; it felt kinda nice. Wait, what is she doing? Is she…is she wrapping her hair around my hand? I'll never understand this girl.

"So…you're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your hair around my injured hand." I say, trying to break the choking silence. I hiss when her finger must have grazed the cut the wrong way.

"Sorry," she said apologetically, "Just don't…don't freak out."

Why would I freak out, what is she doing? I'm scared. She closed her eyes and began to sing her song again.  
"Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine…" She started to sing; I have to admit, she has a beautiful singing voice. I can't think of that for long, when I saw that stream of gold flood her hair again. It went from the top of her head and began to stream through the strands.

"Making the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine…" I look at the flood of gold and see the chameleon, he raised his paw, indicating me to look at my own hand.  
"Heal what has been hurt, change the fate's design…" The gold stream began to go around the wrap of hair on my hand and around the cut. It felt...warm. It felt nice.  
"Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine, what once was mine." She finished. I slowly unwrapped the hair from the cut, and I looked at the cut.  
There wasn't one. Her freaky blond hair just healed my cut. Oh goodness, oh God. I can't believe this… I'm gonna scream!

"Please don't freak out!" she stops me. The scream I was going to utter caught in my throat.  
"I-I'm not freaking out are you freaking out? No, I'm just very interested in your hair and the magical qualities that it possesses, how long has it being doing that, exactly?" I ask frantically. She better explain.

"Um…forever, I guess?"  
That's not good enough, Blondie! "Mother said what I was a baby, people tried to cut it; they wanted to take it for themselves." She moved some hair behind her ear to show a short brown bunch of hair. 

"But, once it's cut, it turns brown and loses its power. I gift like that…it has to be protected. That's why mother never let me—" she stopped herself  
"That's why…I never left and…" She heaved a sad sigh. Now I understand.

"You never left that tower." Blondie simply looked at me and nodded.

"And you're still going to go back?" Why would you want to go back somewhere where you could never leave again? Doesn't make much sense.  
"No!" she said quickly "Yes?" she faltered, she sighed again (she's been doing that a lot lately) "It's complicated." She said with her head in her hands. I started to feel sympathy for this girl. It wasn't her fault that she isn't able to leave. It was her mother that kept her there for years. It would make sense that she was so naive, she's missed so much. I wonder if she even knows about the Lost Princess.

She turns her green eyes to me "So…Eugene Fitzherbert, huh?" It was my turn to sigh, I had to explain eventually.  
"Yeah well, I'll spare you the sob story of poor orphan Eugene Fitzherbert it's a little bit off…it's a little bit of a dower." Which was true, to be honest I don't like talking about my past. It's not exactly the happiest thing in the world. Blondie moves closer to me on the log and rests her head on her hands, waiting for me to explain. I chuckle, there's nothing I can keep from her. I decided to tell her one of the more happier moments of my childhood.  
"There was this book, a book I used to read every night to all the younger kids 'The Tales of Flynnagen Rider." Swashbuckling rogue, richest man alive, not bad with the ladies either, not that he'd ever brag about it of course." That was my favorite book growing up, and it still is, actually. I hear Rapunzel giggle next to me, she has a cute giggle.

"Was he a thief too?"

"Uhh…well no. Actually, he had enough money to do whatever he wanted to go; he could go anywhere he wanted to go. And…for a kid with nothing, I don't know, just seemed like the better option." I said. Rapunzel kept staring at me, she was really interested in what I had to say; that hasn't happened since…I can't even remember.  
"You can tell anyone about this, okay? It could ruin my whole reputation." It honestly would, no one wants to hear that the famous Flynn Rider was some poor little orphan book worm boy. Rapunzel rolled her eyes.

"Ahh, we wouldn't want that."

"Well a fake reputation is all a man has." This makes Rapunzel giggled that cute little giggle of hers. She's staring at me again, and I can't help but get lost in her big green eyes. She really is beautiful, with that long blonde hair and those green eye—wait. Snap out of it! I bolt up from the log.  
"Well I should uh, I should get some more firewood." There wasn't any need to, the fire was actually roaring and healthy.  
Before I can go into the woods…

"Hey." Rapunzel said softly, I turn around a little too quickly.

"For the record, I like Eugene Fitzherbert much better than Flynn Rider."

Wow, no one has ever said that before.

"Well, then you'd be the first. But thank you." I say before I go into the woods.

oO0Oo

 

"Hey, so can I ask you something?" I shout as I make my way back to camp, an armful of wood in my hands.

"Is there any chance that I'm gonna get super human strength in my hand? Because I'm not going to lie, that would be stupendous." Rapunzel doesn't turn around; she looks like she's just seen a ghost.

"Hey, are you alright?" I ask, genuinely worried, she's been bubbly all day, what could have happened to make her so afraid?

She finally turns around to face me, "Oh, sorry yes; just uh, lost in thought, I guess."

I don't believe that for a minute, but I shrug anyway, when she wants to talk she can, I won't force her.

"I mean because here's the thing, super human good looks, I've always had 'em. Born with it. But super human strength? Can you imagine the possibilities of this? I could pick up a whole tree in seconds!"

Rapunzel smiles a little, twitting her thumbs as she sat on the log. Clearly something was wrong.

"I suppose you want to get to sleep now, huh? We've had a pretty tiring day." I say, taking a seat on the grass, which was warmed by the fire, Rapunzel doing the same, spreading her blonde hair on the ground as a mock bed.

"We'd better get some sleep, we've got a big day tomorrow, are you excited?" I ask her, trying to cheer her up. I was happy to see that her face visibly beamed at the sound of her birthday being tomorrow. She nodded happily.

"Well good, then you'd better get some sleep. Goodnight, Rapunzel."

"Good night, Eugene. Eugene?" Rapunzel asked softly.

"Hm?"

"Thank you, for setting me free."  
I smile at this, "Anytime."  
Maybe this won't be so bad after all…


End file.
